1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a mesoporous oxide-catalyst complex and methods of preparing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, mesoporous metal oxides have larger pores and a greater surface area than microporous metal oxides, and thus it is expected that they will be applicable to various fields such as catalysts, absorbents, sensors, and storage media. For example, with respect to catalysts, when a mesoporous metal oxide with a large surface area and large pores is used in a chemical reaction, mass transport limitations between reactants and products, which occur when a microporous metal oxide is used, are decreased, and thus the reaction efficiency may increase.
A mesoporous metal oxide, such as a single oxide or an oxide complex including a transition metal oxide, such as NiO, may be used directly as an oxidation catalyst. In addition, a mesoporous metal oxide is widely used in a form of a metal catalyst carrier. Such catalysts have been widely used in energy and environmental applications, such as hydrotreating, hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, petroleum reforming, chemical processing in fuel cells, and for CO2 conversion.
Heterogeneous catalysts, in which a metal catalyst is supported in a metal oxide, may be generally prepared by deposition precipitation, coprecipitation, wet impregnation, sputtering, gas-phase grafting, liquid-phase grafting, or incipient-wetness impregnation. However, these methods are performed in multi-step processes by preparing a metal oxide carrier, dispersing a catalyst metal precursor on a surface of the metal oxide carrier, and then heat treating and reducing the resulting product. In addition, the particles of the metal catalyst should have a diameter on a nanometer scale, and, to increase the dispersion of the metal catalyst, additional processes, such as surface treatment and selection of acid-base properties of a carrier, are currently utilized. Therefore there remains a need for an improved catalyst material, and improved methods of preparation thereof.